# About that wall of magazines at Barnes & Noble... (and about the store in general) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2024, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-that-wall-of-magazines-at-barnes-noble-and-about-the-store-in-general/1000854 "2024-04-27T23:33:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-that-wall-of-magazines-at-barnes-noble-and-about-the-store-in-general/1000854/81 "2024-06-06T16:53:17Z")
This thread inspired me to subscribe to the print edition of _Scientific American._ It’s been so nice having something to read lying around the house, I thought I would add another magazine. I picked something outside the scope of my usual reading material. I think there is a place for magazines for people yet. There’s been a growing backlash against the always-on-screen culture. A lot of people are choosing alternative ways to spend their time. Maybe we’ll see some growth. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2024, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-that-wall-of-magazines-at-barnes-noble-and-about-the-store-in-general/1000854/82 "2024-06-06T17:57:22Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I often try to kill some time at the magazine rack in my local Shoppers Drug Mart while waiting for prescriptions. It has perhaps 50 “magazines” but the majority of them are the fake magazines referred to above (e.g. dedicated to one celebrity or movie). The rest are split up between health & fitness, home décor/cooking, and a few puzzle magazines: no general news or science magazines. My CVS is similar. Are there any news magazines any more? I figure with publication delay, most of the news would be old already and covered on line before the magazine got to readers. There is still a place for analytical pieces, like in the New Yorker, but not what used to be in Time or Newsweek. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-that-wall-of-magazines-at-barnes-noble-and-about-the-store-in-general/1000854/83 "2024-06-07T23:19:31Z")
The only magazines I still subscribe to are _National Geographic_ and _Scientific American_ (Phil Plait still has a column!). I also have the apps for both on my phone, but I find it more comfortable to read the print versions. I have access to an engineering-oriented magazine through a professional organization I belong to, but I stopped getting the print edition because the articles had gotten stale as hell - nothing but buzzword-filled pieces about A.I. or digital twins or something else not relevant to me. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2024, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-that-wall-of-magazines-at-barnes-noble-and-about-the-store-in-general/1000854/84 "2024-06-08T02:04:41Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > I think the Kindle and Nook never really fulfilled their promise, and, moreover, people see books as 1) things they can own instead of files they borrow and 2) a break from staring at a screen. A little off topic here, but I think it’s germane. The library system in the county next door to us is going broke and talking about closing branches. This at a time when more people are using the library than ever. One of the problems the system identified is that more people are downloading ebooks, and ebooks are licensed rather than bought. So after X amount of time or X amount of readings (I don’t know if it’s either or both) the library has to pay for a new license. Compare that with a single purchase of a book they can keep lending out until it physically falls apart. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2024, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-that-wall-of-magazines-at-barnes-noble-and-about-the-store-in-general/1000854/85 "2024-06-08T03:55:27Z")
I seem to remember a recent or current lawsuit going on about this right now. ---
**Author:** ![Aeschines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aeschines/32/16251_2.png) [@Aeschines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aeschines)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-that-wall-of-magazines-at-barnes-noble-and-about-the-store-in-general/1000854/86 "2024-06-08T16:57:07Z")
Interesting. Didn’t know that! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2024, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-that-wall-of-magazines-at-barnes-noble-and-about-the-store-in-general/1000854/87 "2024-06-09T04:44:58Z")
I haven’t visited anybody in the hospital since the demise of magazines. What should I bring now? (I learned long ago that flowers and balloons aren’t really appreciated - no amount will make a hospital room look better.) ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-that-wall-of-magazines-at-barnes-noble-and-about-the-store-in-general/1000854/88 "2024-06-11T01:07:33Z")
Before Covid pandemic I often spent weekend time at my BN browsing the 6 mag racks at the front of the store, buying _American Road_ Mag and doing its xword puzzle while munching a feta-stuffed pretzel and a soy latte in one of their overstuffed chairs. I bought a lot of books, music cd’s and movie dvds there before the cd section was converted to toys. During or after Covid they removed the centralized Kindle nook display area. More lately, I go there only after my quarterly visit to my periodontist which is nearby. Now the toy section is about gone and they have resurrected a 20-foot by 6-foot rear wall section of various modes of Blu-ray discs and dvds, from Anime to Criterion Collection. I again buy _American Road_ Mag. The overstuffed chairs are gone. I’ve donated 99% of my books to the county Friends of the Library (a mile from B&N) and am working on the movies and cds. Oh, and my county just broke ground on a new branch library. As for news magazines, I subscribe to The Week and do its xword puzzle and get many book titles from its Book Review review section for entry in the Doper thread on that subject. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-that-wall-of-magazines-at-barnes-noble-and-about-the-store-in-general/1000854/89 "2024-06-11T13:21:14Z")
Several years back I ordered some free magazine subs from a couple places on line. (They have since moved to charging $2 for a sub.) Mostly got cooking mags for **Mrs. FtG**. I ordered Wired for myself. Egad, what a mess. All these years later and they still don’t care about the color contrast of their text making it unreadable. (Neal Stephenson in _Cryptonomicon_ made fun of this, that was 1999.) And the ads were for luxury watches, etc. Yep, this is a magazine for putting out on coffee tables for show. I no longer go to a library regularly but used to do quick scans thru _Scientific American_ and such. (I miss Martin Gardener.) Not worth a sub even at $2. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2024, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-that-wall-of-magazines-at-barnes-noble-and-about-the-store-in-general/1000854/90 "2024-06-11T13:28:25Z")
B&N is one of my go-to locations to buy board games. They have nearly as many as the independent comic book store does. Granted, they’re mostly big selling titles (e.g. Risk, Catan, Ticket to Ride, etc.), but every so often you encounter lesser known games. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-that-wall-of-magazines-at-barnes-noble-and-about-the-store-in-general/1000854.md?page=4)